Hello and welcome!
It's the first of the month and I am delighted to be joining Altenew for their
Build-A-Garden: Magnificent Branch Release Blog Hop! The Altenew Build-A-Garden project set is an exciting monthly package that is sure to get the creative juices flowing! Each month includes a stamp set along with a coordinating stencil set and/or die set PLUS a customer-favorite Mini Blending Brush! When signed up, you are guaranteed a spot in their monthly Build-A-Garden releases and will receive a set each month - at a specially discounted price! ($35.99 →$29.99)
If you arrived here from,
Mindy Eggen's Blog, then you are on the right track. If this is your first stop, then you will want to start at the beginning, the
Altenew Card Blog. We've got tons of inspiration and giveaways for you on the hop today, so keep reading till the end of this post for more information.
The
Build-A-Garden: Magnificent Branch Set can help you create
two card fronts at once with this first-of-its-kind floral stamp set! The imaginative set features a magnificent tree branch bearing flowers that you wouldn't normally see together in nature. Cut the design just right for a card featuring the cupped rose and another card featuring the flat rose. Stamp the heartwarming sentiments and quotes to inspire your loved ones.
This set contains the following products:
- one 6" x 8" stamp set containing 10 stamps made in the USA from high-quality photopolymer
- one layering stencil set containing 4 stencils that coordinate with the stamp set
- one Mini Blending Brush for ink blending
Note: These products are NOT sold separately.
The
Build-A-Garden: Magnificent Branch Set is simply incredible! The layering stencils in the set function very similarly to the layering stamps for which Altenew is known so well, but they allow for huge versatility in size and technique that can’t be achieved as easily with a stamp set.

I trimmed the panel down a bit and then fussy-cut the different images using a pair of scissors and kept them aside to work on my card background. To create the background, I stamped the background design from the
Pattern Play: Diamond Stamp Set in
Versamark Ink onto
Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock, then sprinkled some
White Embossing Powder over the image, and melted the powder with a Heat Tool. Then, I watercolored the panel using Lava Rock Brush Markers and drug the color out loosely with water for a soft, watercolored background.

Once that was done, I splattered the card front with Enchanted Gold, Sterling Silver, and Rose Quartz paints from the
Metallic Watercolor Set for a fun, artsy look. I also used some
Antique Gold Metallic Spray to add some shiny, shimmery gold splatters to the flowers and leaves. Then, I used the
Instant Dimension Foam Tape and
Craft Glue to add lots of layers of the stenciled pieces to the card panel. I adhered them all over the card front, leaving a small space on the left side for a greeting.

For a greeting, I die cut the word 'Hi' three times from the
Simple Alpha Die Set from
some Black Glitter Cardstock and
Citrine Cardstock, then adhered them all together to create a dimensional die cut and adhered it to the left of the blended bouquet. The thick charcoal die cut pops off of the center of the heat-embossed background! Then, I stamped the sentiment from the
Build-A-Garden: Magnificent Branch Stamp Set onto a strip of
White Cardstock using
Obsidian Ink and affixed it to my panel using
foam adhesive. The sentiment in the set isn't present in a vertical line, so I masked the stamp to have it combined into one line. Many of your sentiment stamps can be masked off to create different messages. Simply arrange your stamps on the block, then place a piece of tape over the word(s) you don’t want to stamp. You can use clear tape, washi tape or any other kind of low-tack tape!
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To complete, I adhered the panel to a top-folding A2-sized white card base using
tape runner. I added a few
Antique Gold - Sequins to help add some sparkle to the card front.
Giveaway Prizes:
$200 in total prizes! To celebrate this release,
Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $20 gift certificate to 5 winners! Please leave a comment on the
Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 05/07/2022 for a chance to win.
Altenew will draw 7 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the
Altenew Winners Page on 05/092022.
Blog Hop Order:
Next Stop on this Blog Hop is,
Laurie Patterson's blog. Just in case you lose your place along the way, here is the complete list of participants so that you can find your way back:
Altenew Card Blog
Vicky Papaioannou
Emily Midgett
Cheryl Espie
Jaycee Gaspar
Carol Hintermeier
Jenny Colacicco
Natasha Davies
Laurie Willison
Nathalie DeSousa
Rosie Neustaedter
Terri Koszler
Bridget Casey
Virginia Lu
Sande Woodson
Michelle Short
Nenette S. Madero
Colleen Balija
Tenia Nelson
LauraJane
Maryam Perez
Amy Hill
Mindy Eggen
Hussena Calcuttawala (You are HERE)
Laurie Patterson
Nandini Karmarkar
Daniel Diaz
Susan Busada
Katrina Howe
Ann Taylor
Eva Bussom
Linda Westfall
Susan Stagno
Preeti Chandran
SathyaKala Sankaran
Well, that’s all for my projects today! Thanks so much for stopping by and reading. I hope you have a wonderful day!
If you like what you've seen from me, please give me a follow over on my Instagram (
@hussena_cal) and/or subscribe to my blog if you haven't already.